Fictional Film
Updated and edited by Mollie Smith (2002), Alexis Howe (2005), Chang Wang (2005), and Randall Ryder (2007), reproduced with permission.
Abuladze,
Tenghiz (Director). Pokayaniye. Georgia: Cannon Group, 1987.
In
Repentance
(Pokayaniye),
the Georgian mayor is a cruel, oppressive ruler. After he dies and his son
tries to pick up the pieces of his life, a local woman refuses to let the
father’s bones stay buried in order to express her own disgust at the man’s
horrible regime. The Soviet Union refused the distribution of the film in
1984, but it won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival when it was
released in 1987.[1]
Abu-Assad,
Hany (Director). Paradise Now. Palestine/Germany/France: Augustus Film, 2005.
A
unique perspective on Middle East politics. The story places two close friends,
Palestinians Said and Khaled, recruited by an extremist group as suicide
bombers to perpetrate a terrorist attack in Tel-Aviv. However, things go wrong and both friends must separate in
the border. From that point on,
the two friends take divergent paths, resulting in diverging consequences. (based on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445620/)
http://wip.warnerbros.com/paradisenow/
Abu-Assad, Hany
(Director). Rana’s Wedding.
Palestine/Netherlands: Augustus Films, 2002.
About
a Palestinian girl of 17 who wants to get married to the man of her own
choosing. Rana wakes up one morning to an ultimatum delivered by her father:
she must either choose a husband from a pre-selected list of men, or she must
leave Palestine for Egypt with her father by 4:00 that afternoon. With ten
hours to find her boyfriend in occupied Jerusalem, she sneaks out of her
father's house at daybreak to find her forbidden love Khalil. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305229/plotsummary)
Apted,
Michael (Director). Thunderheart. United States:
Columbia/Tristar Studios, 1992.
Thunderheart focuses on an FBI
investigation of a murder on the Oglala Sioux reservation. Val Kilmer
portrays a half Sioux FBI agent struggling to come to terms with the Native
American heritage he has chosen to ignore. The agent discovers a
conspiracy headed by the FBI to hide the source of toxins in the reservation’s
water supply, a conspiracy that leads to the murder to a young Oglala Sioux
woman. The movie is based on events surrounding an actual standoff
between FBI agents and Indian activists in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota.
Apted,
Michael. Amazing Grace. UK/USA: Fourboys Films, 2007.
An
idealistic English man, William Wilberforce, attempts to successfully maneuver
his way through Parliament in 19th century England in an attempt to stop the
British transatlantic slave trade.
(based on information from: http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/)
http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/
Attenborough,
Richard (Director). Cry
Freedom.
United States: Universal Pictures, 1987.
Cry
Freedom
is a portrayal of apartheid South Africa. A black activist, Steve Biko
(Denzel Washington), and a liberal white journalist (Kevin Kline) become friends to fight the status
quo. When Biko is murdered, Kline’s character must carry on alone.[2]
Attenborough,
Richard (Director). Gandhi. 1982.
Sir Richard
Attenborough's 1982 multiple-Oscar winner (including Best Picture, Best
Director, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley) is an engrossing, reverential look
at the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who introduced the doctrine of nonviolent
resistance to the colonized people of India and who ultimately gained the
nation its independence. Kingsley is magnificent as Gandhi as he changes over
the course of the three-hour film from an insignificant lawyer to an
international leader and symbol. Strong on history (the historic division
between India and Pakistan, still a huge problem today, can be seen in its
formative stages here) as well as character and ideas, this is a fine film. --Tom Keogh ( Based on film review
published on Amazon.com.)
Avildsen,
John G. (Director). The Power of One. Australia: Warner Brothers
Entertainment, 1992.
The
Power of One
is the story of a South African English boy, P.K., and his determination to do
what is right. P.K. has been taught to respect and admire his African neighbors instead of
regarding them as inferiors, as most of the other English and Afrikaners
do. P.K. learns to hate his country’s system of apartheid and, through friendships and his own
ingenuity, attempts to undermine it.
Avnet,
Jon (Director). Red
Corner.
1997.
Jack Moore
is an American attorney having talks in Beijing about founding the first
satellite TV joint venture. Suddenly he is arrested, accused of murder and has to prove it
was a frame-up together with his court-appointed attorney Shen Yuelin.
(Based
on information provided by Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6304883773/qid=1138024031/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130
Babenco,
Hector. Caradiru. USA: Sony Pictures
Classics, 2004.
This
film portrays the living conditions and injustices that are allowed inside a
Brazilian state penitentiary.
Babanco,
Hector. Kiss
of the Spider Woman.
USA: Island Alive, 1985.
Based on the
novel by Manuel Puig, Kiss
of the Spider Woman portrays
the experience of cellmates in a South American prison – one “guilty” of
being homosexual and
the other a political prisoner.
Bachir,
Yamina (Director). Rachida. Algeria/France: Canal +, 2002.
Algeria saw
its citizens living under the shadow of terrorism for the bulk of the 1990s and
Rachida is a teacher who attempts to make a start in her young life by
imparting wisdom and educating the young. But her steadfast principals land her
in trouble when she encounters a group of terrorists. Refusing to obey their
unreasonable orders, Rachida unwittingly places the whole school in danger of a
terrorist attack. An honest look at the problems that beset Algeria in the
final decade of the 20th century.
(synopsis from: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808643808/details)
http://leb.net/~aljadid/film/Rachida.html
Barroso,
Mariano. In
the Time of the Butterflies. USA: MGM Home Entertainment, 2001.
This movie
is based on the novel by Julia Alvarez, which is based on the true story of the
Mirabal sisters who resisted the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic
during the 1960s and who were also killed by this same regime.
Benigni,
Roberto (Director). Life Is Beautiful. Italy:
Miramax Home Entertainment, 1998.
Life
Is Beautiful
is a comic, yet tragic film about an Italian man’s efforts to protect his son
from seeing the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. Guido (Roberto
Benigni), tells his son that the concentration camp they have been deported to
is all part of an elaborate contest in which the winner gets a tank.
Benigni creates a wonderful comedy while simultaneously showing the tragedy of
the Holocaust. Benigni received Oscars for Best Actor and Best Foreign
Language Film. In Italian with English subtitles.[3]
Based
on film information provided by Amazon.com.
Beresford,
Bruce (Director). Breaker
Morant. Australia: 7 Network, 1980.
During the Boer
War in South Africa, three Australian officers are put on trial by a British
military court for murdering prisoners.
(based on information from the website below.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant_(film)
Berg,
Peter (Director). The Kingdom. United States: Universal Pictures,
2007.
A FBI
counterterrorism team (Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason
Batemen) is sent to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terrorist bomb explodes
inside a U.S. housing compound.
After some initial difficulties, the team aligns itself with a Saudi
Police Captain and pursue the perpetrators.
http://www.thekingdommovie.com/
Blanke,
Alfred (Director). The
Life of Emile Zola.
1937. Warner Bros.
The Life of
Emile Zola episodically explores the career of the novelist who championed the
cause of France's oppressed. Zola (Paul Muni) is a hugely successful French
author who risks all his success and comfort to come to the defense of the
unjustly jailed Capt. Dreyfus (Oscar winner Joseph Schildkraut). Winner of three Oscars overall-and of immense critical
and popular success-this distinguished film is a must-see portrait of a life
that's "a moment of the conscience of man."
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com. )
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006HBV3W/qid=1138024257/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?v=glance&s=dvd
Bouchareb,
Rachid (Direcor). Days of Glory. Algeria/France: Tessalit Productions,
2006.
In World War
II, Muslims from French colonies enlist to fight for their motherland France -
the film follows the story of a group of such men. Along the campaign in Italy, France and Alsace, they realize
that French soldiers are promoted, has better food and have leaves to visit
their families, while the Arab soldiers are shamefully discriminated and
treated like 2nd ranking soldiers.
(synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444182/plotsummary)
http://tadrart.com/tessalit/indigenes/home_gb.html
Bouzid,
Nouri (Director). Man of Ashes. Tunisia: Cinetelefilms, 1986.
As his
wedding date approaches, handsome young Hachemi must confront and resolve his
feelings of guilt and anxiety about a sexual incident from his past. The film thoroughly examines
traditionally masculine roles and identity in Tunisia. (synopsis from: http://www.arabfilm.com/item/94/)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091470/
Buñuel,
Luís. Los
Olvidados.
USA: Arthur
Mayer-Edward Kingsley Inc. , 1952.
This
movie portrays the life and struggles of poor slum children in Mexico City,
demonstrating the destructive effects of poverty on children.
Caetano,
Adrian (Director). Bolivia.
Argentina/Netherlands: Fundracion PROA, 2001.
Bolivia tells the story of Freddy, an
illegal immigrant who has left Bolivia, his home and his family to try his luck
in Argentina, where he hopes to build a future in which they can be reunited.
He lands a job as a cook in a restaurant where the owner is happy to flout the
law in order to secure cheap labor and where Freddy meets the characters that
will change the course of his life - a Paraguayan waitress, a traveling
salesman from the province of Córdoba, two Buenos Aires -porteño- taxi drivers
and one of the driver's buddies. The interactions between Freddy, his
co-workers and the regular clientele unfold into a low key but deeply humane drama,
in which prejudice and discrimination are commonplace, and rare glimpses of
warmth all the more precious because of this. With strong performances, a
concise narrative and impeccable camera work, Bolivia explores issues of
xenophobia and social violence in Argentina. (synopsis from: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bolivia/about.php)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia_(film)
Canton-Jones,
Michael (Director). Beyond the
Gates. UK/Germany: CrossDay Productions Ltd.,
2005
Based on a true story from the
1994 massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda. An exhausted Catholic priest and a young
idealistic English teacher finds themselves caught in the middle of the
genocide and decide to harbor thousands of Tutsis in an attempt to protect them
from the Hutu militia.
http://beyondthegates-movie.com/
Caro,
Niki. North
Country.
2005
" North Country ," is inspired by
the life of a real person, Lois Jenson, who filed the first class action
lawsuit for sexual harassment in American history. That the suit
was settled as recently as 1991 came as a surprise to me; I would have guessed
the 1970s, but no, that's when the original court decision came down. Like the court's decisions on civil rights, it
didn't change everything overnight.
(Roger
Ebert, regerebert.com)
Cedar,
Joseph (Director). Campfire. Israel: Cinema Post Production, Ltd.,
2004.
The story of
a young widow, mother of two beautiful teenage daughters, who wants to join the
founding group of a new religious settlement in the West Bank, but first must
convince the acceptance committee that she is worthy. Things get complicated
when the younger daughter is accused of seducing some boys from her youth
movement. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374036/)
http://hoopla.nu/films/campfire/campfire.html
Chan-wook,
Park (Director). Joint Security
Area. South Korea: CJ Entertainment, 2000.
Set in a
particularly tense area of the demilitarized zone between the Koreas, a
whodunit with a pointedly political theme and an unapologetically humanist
message. Major Jean (Lee Yeong-ae), who grew up in Switzerland, comes to South
Korea, her father's homeland, to investigate an incident that took place inside
the Joint Security Area, administered by Swedish and Swiss peacekeepers.
Collecting depositions from both sides, she encounters two predictably opposed
accounts of the shooting, which left two North Korean soldiers dead. With the
specter of nuclear hostilities hovering, Major Jean's investigation is a lot
more than routine police work.
(synopsis based on: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/227029/Joint-Security-Area/overview)
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/joint-security-area-2000-movie-review/
Chen,
Joan (Director). Xiu
Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (Tian Yu). China. 1998.
Directed by
Joan Chen from an award-winning novella banned in China because of political
and sexual content, "Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl" is a powerful love story.
Between 1967 and 1976, nearly 8 million Chinese youths were "sent
down" for specialized training to the remotest corners of the country.
Before being sent down, the young and beautiful Xiu Xiu dreams of becoming a
horse trainer in the wide open plains of Tibet, far away from her busy city
home. Her journey begins in a training camp in the isolated plains with a
solitary and mysterious man. Slowly, Xiu Xiu discovers that she is unlikely to
ever see her home again without a
wealthy sponsor. Her world becomes a horrifying cage, where "patrons"
promise her escape in exchange for her sexual compromise. This is one girl's
story and a compassionate deed that inspired one special man and everyone who
hears her tale.
(Based
on information provided by Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00001O2GH/qid=1138023796/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/103-7669510- 0088653?n=130
Chen,
Kaige (Director). Farewell
My Concubine.
China.
The panorama
of 20th-century Chinese history swirls past two men, celebrated actors with
their own decidedly specialized view of things. We first observe their lives as
children at the Peking Opera training school, a brutal and demanding arena for
future actors. While still in training, the effeminate Douzi is chosen to play
the transvestite role and the masculine Shitou is chosen to play the royal role
in a ritualized play about a king and a concubine. The actors are so good at
this performance that they become identified with these roles for their entire
careers; through World War II, through the takeover by the Communists, through
the insanity of the Cultural Revolution, they are known for their famous parts.
Leslie Cheung and Zhang Fengyi are powerful as the two men, and Gong Li (the
beautiful leading lady of Raise the Red Lantern) plays the wife of the
latter. The movie may be stronger on good old-fashioned melodrama than on
profound conclusions, but boy, does it fill up the eyes. The director is Chen
Kaige, one of the most talented members of China's "Fifth Generation"
of filmmakers, whose daring subject matter (and sometimes bald international
ambitions) have often irked the Chinese government. Indeed, though Farewell My
Concubine
shared the top prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and snagged two Oscar
nominations, it had difficulty gaining official approval from China. --Robert
Horton
(Based on film review
published on Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002RAPT/qid=1138023822/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130
Chouraqui,
Elie (Director). O Jerusalem. France: Les Films de l’Instant, 2006.
Re-creates
the historic struggle surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
At the center of these events are two young, American friends - one Jewish, the
other Arab. The film is told from the alternating viewpoints of various
ethnicities, all of whom collide in their fight for the control of Jerusalem
while bringing to the forefront themes of courage, terrorism, deprivation,
politics and a strong sense of morality. Their involvement takes them from the
streets of New York to The Holy Land, where they risk their lives making
incredible sacrifices along the way to fight for what they believe in, as the
city of their dreams teeters on the brink of destruction. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443448/)
http://www.ojerusalemthemovie.com/
Clooney,
George (Director).
Good Night, and Good Luck. 2005.
" Good Night, and
Good Luck" is a movie about a
group of professional newsmen who with surgical precision remove a cancer from
the body politic. They believe in the fundamental American freedoms, and in
Sen. Joseph McCarthy they see a man who would destroy those freedoms in the
name of defending them. Because McCarthy is a liar and a bully, surrounded by
yes-men, recklessly calling his opponents traitors, he commands great power for
a time. He destroys others with lies, and then is himself destroyed by the
truth. helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American
history.
(Roger
Ebert, regerebert.com)
Coppola,
Francis-Ford (Director). Apocalypse
Now. United States: United Artists, 1979.
The story of
an Army captain (Martin Sheen) sent to Vietnam to assassinate a Special Forces
Colonel (Marlon Brando) who has supposedly gone insane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now
Costa-Gavras,
Constantin (Director). The
Confession.
France: Pomeren-Valoria, 1970.
Costa-Gavras’s
film is about the Stalinist puppet trials in Czechoslovakia in 1952 and the
extracted and false confessions drawn out of dissidents through torture.
An Eastern European Communist official, who had been a loyalist during the
Spanish Civil War, finds that he is being followed. He is soon arrested,
tortured, and put in a show trial without being told why. In French.[4]
Costa-Gavras,
Constantin (Director).
Music Box.
United States: Tri-Star Pictures, 1990.
An
American woman defends her father as the U.S. attempts to deport him. The
father, a Hungarian immigrant, is accused of having committed crimes against
humanity while serving in a Nazi-allied police force in his home country.
The daughter discovers things about her father that she never imagined and her
story becomes an allegory of American ignorance and innocence.[5]
Costa-Gavras,
Constantin (Director). Z. Algeria/France: Office National pour le
Commerce et l'Industrie Cinématographique, 1969.
Costa-Gavras
chronicles the overthrow of the democratic government in Greece. When a liberal
politician is murdered in an attack during a peace demonstration, the right
wing established figures in the military and the police try and hide not only
their parts in it, but try to cover up the murder as well. The prosecutor must
act as a detective in order to go through the cover up. While historically
accurate, it is told as a combination mystery and thriller. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/plotsummary)
http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Z
Costner,
Kevin (Director). Dances With
Wolves. United States: Orion Pictures, 1990.
The
story of a US Army soldier (Kevin Costner) who sets out to man an abandoned
Fort on the western frontier. The
soldier soon encounters the local Sioux Indian tribe and soon becomes their
friend, ally, and eventually is incorporated into their tribe, even marrying
one of the members of the tribe.
But soon after, the US Army discovers he is a deserter and begins to
hunt both him and the tribe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dances_with_Wolves
Dash,
Julie (Director) The Rosa Parks Story. 2002. US
The
story of the civil rights heroine whose refusal to obey racial bus segregation
was just one of her acts in her fight for justice.
Demme,
Jonathan (Director). Beloved. United States: Buena Vista, 1998.
Jonathan
Demme’s Beloved is a close adaptation
of Toni Morrison’s acclaimed novel. The film revolves around Sethe (Oprah
Winfrey), a runaway slave living in Ohio with the remnants of her family.
The family is haunted by Sethe’s dead baby, whom she had killed rather than let
be taken back into slavery. Their lives are thrown further into mystery
and chaos as an enigmatic girl named Beloved appears at their house one day.
DePalma,
Brian (Director). Redacted. United States: Magnolia Pictures, 2007.
Inspired
by true events, the story follows a group of soldiers who are stationed at a
checkpoint in Iraq. Angel Salazar is an aspiring filmmaker who is intent on
capturing his experience on videotape. His fellow soldiers--Reno Flake, Lawyer
McCoy, and Gabe Blix -- seem to be surprisingly well-adjusted at first, but it
isn’t long before their true colors come through. When Reno decides to get
drunk and harass an Iraqi family, the situation devolves into rape and murder,
putting an incredible strain on Lawyer, who wants to expose Reno but doesn’t
want to rat out a fellow soldier.
(synopsis from: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10008755-redacted/about.php)
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071115/REVIEWS/711150303/1023
DeSica,
Vittorio (Director). Shoeshine. Italy: Societa Cooperativa Alfa Cinematografica, 1946.
The story of two young boys who work on
the streets of Rome in 1946 shining the shoes of American troops. When the boys
are implicated in a petty crime, they are punished by society, resulting in
tragic consequences. It was
inspired by the real stories of people caught up in the chaos of a world
plagued by poverty and unemployment. (synopsis from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoeshine-Sciuscia-Masters-Franco-Interlenghi/dp/B000HEVTQ8)
http://oldschoolreviews.com/rev_40/shoeshine.htm
DeSica,
Vittorio (Director). Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Italy: Central Cinema Company Film, 1970.
Based on the autobiographical novel by
Giorgio Bassani, the film covers the lives of several Jewish characters from
the onset of Mussolini's anti-Semitic edicts in 1938 to the arrest and
deportation of all of the Italian Jews in 1943. As the story focuses on a love story, Mussolini is slowly
dissolving the rights of all Italian Jews, though the mean characters appear
unable to accept this fact, let alone deal with its consequences. The film is a tragic, cautionary
account of how the most elevated and aristocratic members of a society can
ignore their approaching destruction.
(based on: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/garden_of_the_finzicontinis/about.php)
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/garden/
Duigan,
John. Romero. USA: Four Square,
1989.
This film
chronicles the life, death and struggles of the Archbishop Oscar Romero, who
resisted and was murdered by the oppressive regime in El Salvador during the
1980’s.
Edwards,
Robert (Director). Land of the
Blind. UK/USA: Avnet/Kerner Productions, 2006.
A political drama about terrorism and revolution. In an unnamed place and time, an
idealistic soldier named Joe strikes up an illicit friendship with a political
prisoner named Thorne, who eventually recruits him into a bloody coup d'etat.
But in the post-revolutionary world, what Thorne asks of Joe leads the two men
into bitter conflict, spiraling downward into madness until Joe's
co-conspirators conclude that they must erase him from history. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433405/plotsummary)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Blind_(film)
Eisenstein,
Sergei (Director). Battleship
Potemkin.
Soviet Union. 1925.
Sergei
Eisenstein's revolutionary sophomore feature has so long stood as a textbook
example of montage editing that many have forgotten what an invigoratingly
cinematic experience he created. A 20th-anniversary tribute to the 1905
revolution, Eisenstein portrays the revolt in microcosm with a dramatization of
the real-life mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin. The story tells a
familiar party-line message of the oppressed working class (in this case the
enlisted sailors) banding together to overthrow their oppressors (the ship's
officers), led by proto-revolutionary Vakulinchuk. When he dies in the
shipboard struggle the crew lays his body to rest on the pier, a moody, moving
scene where the citizens of Odessa slowly emerge from the fog to pay their
respects. As the crowd grows Eisenstein turns the tenor from mourning a fallen
comrade to celebrating the collective achievement. The government responds by
sending soldiers and ships to deal with the mutinous crew and the supportive
townspeople, which climaxes in the justly famous (and often imitated and
parodied) Odessa Steps massacre. Eisenstein edits carefully orchestrated
motions within the frame to create broad swaths of movement, shots of varying
length to build the rhythm, close-ups for perspective and shock effect, and
symbolic imagery for commentary, all to create one of the most cinematically
exciting sequences in film history. Eisenstein's film is Marxist propaganda to
be sure, but the power of this masterpiece lies not in its preaching but its
poetry. --Sean
Axmaker (
Based on film review published on Amazon.com.) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001EFTXI/qid=1137989254/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-7669510-0088653?n=507846&s=dvd&v=glance
Falconetti,
Maria (Director). The
Passion of Joan of Arc. 1928.
The
sufferings of a martyr, Jeanne D'Arc (1412-1431). Jeanne appears in court where
Cauchon questions her and d'Estivet spits on her. She predicts her rescue, is
taken to her cell, and judges forge evidence against her. In her cell, priests
interrogate her and judges deny her the Mass. Threatened first in a torture
chamber and then offered communion if she will recant, she refuses. At a
cemetery, in front of a crowd, a priest and supporters urge her to recant; she
does, and Cauchon announces her sentence. In her cell, she explains her change
of mind and receives communion. In the courtyard at Rouen castle, she burns at
the stake; the soldiers turn on the protesting crowd.
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0780022343/qid=1138024288/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?v=glance&s=dvd
Ferroukhi,
Ismael (Director). Le Grand
Voyage. France: Ognon Pictures, 2004.
Reda,
summoned to accompany his father on a pilgrimage to Mecca, complies reluctantly
- as he preparing for his baccalaureat and, even more important, has a secret
love relationship. The trip across Europe in a broken-down car is also the
departure of his father: upon arrival in Mecca, both Reda and his father are
not the characters they were at the start of the movie. Avoiding the hackneyed
theme of the return to the homeland, the film uses the departure to renew a
connection between two generation.
(synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361670/)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005063-grand_voyage/
Forman,
Milos (Director). The Fireman’s
Ball. Czechoslovakia: Carlo Ponti Cinematografica, 1967.
On the
surface, the film is a comedic look at a fireman’s ball where nothing goes
right. But under the surface, the
film is an attack on Communist ideals. In particular, the film implicitly
critiques Czechoslovakia’s Stalinist purges of the 1950’s, which resulted in
the deaths or imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of citizens. (excerpt from: http://www.moviemartyr.com/1967/firemansball.htm)
http://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/f/firemensball_cc.q.shtml
Frankenheimer,
John (Director). The
Fixer.
United States: MGM Studios, 1968.
In The Fixer, a Jewish handyman, or
"fixer" attempts escape from an unjust prison sentence in harsh and
anti-Semitic Czarist Russia. The film is based on the novel by Bernard
Malamud.
Frears,
Stephen (Director). Dirty
Pretty Things. United Kingdom: BBC, 2002.
An
illuminating and nuanced film about the exploitation of illegal
immigrants. Okwe, a kind-hearted Nigerian
doctor, and Senay, a Turkish chambermaid, work at the same West London hotel.
The hotel is run by Senor Sneaky and is the sort of place where dirty business
like drug dealing and prostitution takes place. However, when Okwe finds a
human heart in one of the toilets, he uncovers something far more sinister than
just a common crime. (synopsis
based on: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dirty_pretty_things/about.php)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/11/01/dirty_pretty_things_2002_review.shtml
Freeman,
Morgan (Director). Bopha! United States:
Paramount Pictures, 1993.
Bopha! is the story of a black
police officer in a modern apartheid South Africa; a man who is amiable with
his white superiors and glad to have his job and family. His peaceful
world comes apart, however, when his son begins participating in strikes
against the local white-run school and the authorities crack down violently.[6]
Friedkin,
William (Director). Rules of Engagement. United
States: Paramount Pictures, 2000.
In Rules of
Engagement,
a Marine commander (Samuel L. Jackson) is accused of ordering his men to shoot
innocent civilian protesters while they were removing the U.S. ambassador and
his family from the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. His friend (Tommy Lee Jones),
a retired military attorney, must search for the truth in order to save his
friend from court martial.
Gaghan,
Stephen (Director). Syriana. United States: Warner Bros., 2005.
The story of
corruption and power related to the oil industry that tells four parallel
stories: the CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) with great experience in
Middle East that falls in disgrace after an unsuccessful mission dealing
missiles in Lebanese Republic; the investigation of the attorney Bennett
Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) related to the merge of two American oil companies,
Connex and Killen; the traumatic association of the energy analyst Bryan
Woodman (Matt Damon) with the son of a powerful emir of Emirate; and the social
drama of the Pakistani immigrant worker Wasim Khan (Mazhar Munir) that is fired
by the oil company. (based on
information from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365737/plotsummary)
http://syrianamovie.warnerbros.com/
Gance,
Abel (Director). J'Accuse!
( I Accuse!), 1919/1938.
France.
Abel Gance’s
powerful anti-war film still has the power to move and shock. Through the
intimate microcosm of two soldiers united on the battlefield, Gance shows the
horror and absurdity of war for all its worth.
(Film review
by James Travers. http://frenchfilms.topcities.com/index3.html#http://frenchfilms.topcities.com/nf_J_Accuse_1919_rev.html)
George,
Terry (Director). Hotel
Rwanda.
United States. 2005.
Ten years
ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the
country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the
clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only
three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these
unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man
summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless
refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007R4T3U/qid=1138023697/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130
Gilbert,
Brian (Director). Not
Without My Daughter.
United States: MGM Studios, 1990.
In
Not
Without My Daughter,
an American woman and her child accompany her Iranian husband to his homeland,
where he decides the family will stay. To her horror, she realizes that
Iranian women have no rights, and she must flee the country with her daughter.
Gorin,
Serif (Director). Yol. Turkey: Triumph
Releasing, 1982.
Yol
is a
drama about five Turkish convicts let out of prison for one week. Each of
them experience tragedy, however, in their short time of liberty. One
discovers his brother has been killed by police, another that his wife has been
unfaithful. Yol reveals the very
non-Western aspects of Turkish society and tradition as well as different sides
of freedom.[7]
Grede,
Kjell (Director). Good Evening,
Mr. Wallenberg. Sweden: Film Technik, 1990.
Swedish
national Raoul Wallenberg, newcomer to politics and international machinations,
travels to German-occupied Budapest during WWII in order to effectively
intervene in the fate of trapped Hungarian Jews, by providing them with safe
passage to Sweden. (synopsis from:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/plotsummary)
http://apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=4740
Greengrass,
Paul (Director). Bloody Sunday. U.K./Ireland: Bord Scannan na hEireann,
2002.
A docudrama
that highlights the tensions between Ireland and England, telling the infamous
story of January 30, 1972, known as Bloody Sunday in Ireland – when the
British militia opened fire on Irish protesters in Ireland.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bloody_sunday/
Griffith,
D.W. (Director). Intolerance. United States. 1916.
Intolerance
and its terrible effects are examined in four historical eras. In ancient
Babylon, a mountain girl is caught up in the religious rivalry that leads to
the city's downfall. In Judea, the hypocritical Pharisees condemn Jesus Christ.
In 1572 Paris, unaware of the impending St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, two
young Huguenots prepare for marriage. Finally, in modern America, social
reformers destroy the lives of a young woman and her
beloved.
Based on film information provided by Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007CVS8/qid=1137989288/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-7669510-0088653?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130
Hackford,
Taylor (Director). Proof
of Life.
United States: Warner Studios, 2000.
In Proof of Life, Peter and Alice Bowman
(David Morse and Med Ryan) live in the fictional country of Tecala in Latin
America, where Peter works for a corporation building a dam. When Peter
is kidnapped by rebels seeking to collect a hefty ransom from the corporation,
Alice turns to a professional kidnap and ransom negotiator (Russell Crowe) for
help.
Haroun,
Mahamet-Saleh (Director). Daratt. Chad: Chinguitty Films, 2006.
Chad, 2006.
After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just
amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his
grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father
and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he
goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take
long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to
the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his
services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down
the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825241/)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/07/23/daratt_2007_review.shtml
Herbiet,
Laurent (Director). Mon Colonel. France: K.G. Productions, 2006.
A
"Reformed Colonel" is found dead in Paris, a couple of decades after
Algeria's struggle for independence was won from France. Lieutenant Galois is
assigned the investigation of this murder. She receives the diary of Lieutenent
Guy Rossi who served under The Colonel in Algeria in 1956, and has been
reported as missing in action since 1957. The revelations found in Rossi's
diary go far beyond The Colonel's actions in Algeria, and give an insight on
how dirty Algeria's War for Independence really was. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800135/plotsummary)
http://www.moncolonel-lefilm.com/
Herzog,
Werner. Aguierre:
der Zorn Gottes.
USA: New Yorker Films, 1977.
After the
destruction of the Incan Empire during the Spanish Conquest of the Americas, a
group of Spaniards, led by Lope de Aguirre, leaves the mountains of Peru to
sail down the Amazon River in search of gold ( El Dorado) and eternal fame. The
journey quickly becomes perilous as the group is depleted, morale deteriorates
and fights ensure among the crewmembers.
Herzog,
Werner (Director). Rescue Dawn. United States: MGM, 2006.
The story of
an American pilot (Christian Bale) who crashes during a reconnaissance mission
in Vietnam. Captured, and subject
to torture by his captors, the pilot and one other fellow captive manage to
endure, and eventually escape.
Hirshbiegel,
Oliver. The Experiment. Germany: Fanes Film, 2001.
A makeshift
prison is set up in a research lab, complete with cells, bars and surveillance
cameras. For two weeks 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and
guards. The 'prisoners' are locked up and have to follow seemingly mild rules,
and the 'guards' are told simply to retain order without using physical
violence. Everybody is free to quit at any time, thereby forfeiting payment. In
the beginning the mood between both groups is insecure and rather emphatic. But
soon quarrels arise and the wardens employ ever more drastic sanctions to
confirm their authority. (synopsis
from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250258/plotsummary)
http://www.kinoeye.org/03/06/hantke06.php
Hood,
Gavin (Director). Rendition. United States: New Line Cinema, 2007.
An Egyptian
terrorism suspect is kidnapped while traveling home home to his wife (Reece
Witherspoon) in the United States.
A young CIA agent (Jake Gllyenhall) is charged with interrogating the
suspect is he is held overseas in a secret CIA detention center.
http://www.renditionmovie.com/
Hood,
Gavin (Director). Tsotsi. UK/South Africa: The UK Film & TV
Production Company PLC, 2005.
A drama
tracing six days in the lonely, violent life of Tsotsi (meaning
"thug"), a ruthless, young gang leader. Bolstered by a small crew of
social rejects, Tsotsi refuses to think further ahead than the raids of the
coming night. After an impromptu car jacking results in the accidental
kidnapping of an infant, Tsotsi begins to care for the child and rediscover his
humanity. (based on: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808754789/details)
http://www.tsotsi.com/english/index.php
Hou,
Hsiao-hsien (Director). A City of
Sadness (Bei Qing Cheng Shi). Taiwan.
By
presenting the tragic consequences that resulted from the mainland authorities'
ever-escalating pattern of abuse of power, A City of Sadness compassionately
articulates the suppressed, silent despair of a people repeatedly victimised as
they search for inclusion and cultural identification. Through the film's
pervasively alienated perspective, Hou reflects contemporary Taiwan's vestigial
legacy of demoralisation, abandonment, isolation, and betrayal at the
politically motivated hands of intrusive external forces.
Film
reviewed by Acquarello, http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/03/26/city_of_sadness.html
Ichikawa,
Kon (Director). The Burmese
Harp. Japan: Nikkatsu, 1956.
A Japanese army
private in Burma is so revolted by the carnage of war that he refuses to return
home. Dressed as a Buddhist monk, he remains to bury the dead. The first
Japanese film to stress pacifism, Burmese Harp is renowned for its humanist
fervor. (based on information
provided at the website below.)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burmese_harp/about.php
Jancso,
Miklos (Director). The Red and the White.
Hungary: Mafilm, 1990.
A haunting film
about the absurdity and evils of war. Set in Central Russia during the Civil
War of 1918, the story details the constant shifting of power between the White
guards and the Red soldiers, first at an abandoned monastery, and later, at a
field hospital. Using the wide-screen technique consisting of very long takes
and a ceaselessly tracking camera movement, Jancso has fashioned a brilliant
visual style that gives his film the quality of a surreal nightmare. (based on synopsis at: http://www.multilingualbooks.com/foreignvids-hung.html)
http://www.kinoeye.org/03/03/horton03.php
Jiang,
Wen (Director). Devils on the
Doorstep. China: Asian Union Film &
Entertainment, 2000.
An antiwar film is set in an impoverished
farming village in northern China near the Great Wall during the winter of 1944
and '45. Although the area has been under Japanese occupation since the 1930's,
the villagers have grown to tolerate the occupying "devils," who
demand a percentage of their grain but otherwise mostly leave them to their own
devices. The black-and-white film, belongs to that rarefied breed of antiwar
movie that adopts a lofty satirical distance from its characters' plight. By
turns farcical and horrifying, it scrupulously avoids plucking heartstrings to
portray the soldiers and peasants alike as paranoid fools buffeted by the
shifting winds of war. (based on
synopsis from: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/201752/Devils-on-the-Doorstep/overview)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_on_the_Doorstep
Joffé,
Roland. The
Mission.
USA: Warner Bros., 1986.
This film
portrays the conflicting ideologies that characterized the Conquest of the
Americas, specifically showing the Jesuits in Brazil who attempted to protect
the indigenous population from the mistreatment of the pro-slavery Portuguese
conquistadors.
Kadar,
Jan (Director); Klos, Elmar (Director).
The Shop on Main Street.
Czechslovakia: Filmové Studio Barrandov, 1965.
An inept
Czech peasant is torn between greed and guilt when the Nazi-backed bosses of
his town appoint him "Aryan controller" of an old Jewish widow's
button shop. Humor and tragedy fuse in this scathing exploration of one
cowardly man's complicity in the horrors of a totalitarian regime. Made near
the height of Soviet oppression in Czechoslovakia, the film won the Academy
Award for Best Foreign Film in 1965.
(synopsis from: http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Main-Street-Criterion-Collection/dp/B00005NFZD)
http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/obchod.shtml
Kang,
Je-Kyu (Director). Tae Guk Gi (The Brotherhood of War). South Korea: Kang Je-Kyu Film Co. Ltd.,
2004
The story of
two brothers unwillingly drafted into the South Korean army following the
outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. The older brother strives to protect
his younger brother on the battlefield, while struggling to find a way to have
him discharged so he can return to their village and care for the family they
left behind. However, as the war progresses, the horror and violence they
witness begin to take its toll on each man and severe their bonds as brothers
and soldiers. (symopsis from: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808583795/details)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taegukgi_(film)
Kaplan,
Jonathon (Director). Brokedown
Palace. United States: 20th Century
Fox, 1999.
Alice
(Claire Danes) and Darlene (Kate Beckinsdale) are best friends who decide to
celebrate their high school graduation with a trip to Thailand. There, they
meet a handsome Australian, who convinces them to travel to Hong Kong, but is
actually using them to smuggle drugs.
Upon being caught at Bangkok Airport with heroin the two girls are
sentenced to decades in prison, and must contact a greedy American lawyer (Bill
Pullman) to try and regain their freedom.
http://www.foxmovies.com/brokedownpalace/
Kaplan,
Betty (Director). Of
Love and Shadows.
Spain: Miramax, 1994.
Of
Love and Shadows
is a film adaptation of the Isabella Allende book featuring magazine reporter
Irene Beltran in Chile in 1973. She lives a sheltered life and is unaware
of the atrocities befalling the public until she becomes involved with a
photographer whose brother is a member of the human rights underground. A
story lead subsequently leads her to a disgruntled soldier who gives her a
notebook detailing the military regime’s terrors perpetuated against the
people. As Beltran and her photographer start revealing the wrongdoing
publicly, they are attacked by the regime and forced to flee to Spain.
The two later return to a democratized Chile to witness the changes.[8]
Kassovitz, Mathieu (Director). Hate. France: MKL/Lazennec Diffusion, 1995.
The
story of three ethnically-diverse boys from a poverty-stricken housing complex
in Paris. After watching one of
their friends fall victim to a senseless beating the boys find a loaded gun and
become entangled with boy the police and a group of skinheads. (based on: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hate/about.php)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hate/
Kassovitz,
Peter (Director). Jakob
the Liar.
Unites States: Columbia Tristar, 1999.
Jakob
the Liar
is about a Polish Jew, Jakob (Robin Williams), living in a Nazi-occupied ghetto
during WWII who overhears a radio broadcast that the Allies are advancing
against the Germans. In order to keep the hopes of those around him
alive, Jakob begins telling fictitious stories about the victories the Allies
are achieving against the Germans, claiming he heard them on the radio.
When the Germans learn of the reports, they begin looking for the owner of the
mythical radio.[9]
Kaufman,
Philip (Director). The
Unbearable Lightness of Being. 1988.
Let others
in 1968 Prague fret over liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Prague surgeon
and avowed womanizer Tomas is focused on the happiness of pursuit. He's
determined to live with a lightness of being unfettered by things like
commitment and Communism. A young doctor's quest for sex and his stumbling into
love are part of the rich storyline of this lyrical film from the landmark
Milan Kundera novel, produced by Saul Zaentz (The English Patient, Amadeus) and
directed by Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff, Henry & June). Daniel
Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin indelibly form the romantic triangle
at the center of Tomas' world. It's a shifting world of hope spoiled and
renewed, of lives blighted by oppression and reinvigorated by deep, maturing
love.
Based on
film information provided by Amazon.com.
Kaye,
Tony (Director). *American
History X.
United States: New Line Cinema, 1998.
American
History X
is the story of the experiences of a reformed neo-Nazi and white
supremacist. The movie begins as Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) is
released from a three year prison term, imposed for the murder of a black gang
member. Derek is idolized by his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong),
who has followed his brother into a life of hatred and racism. Through
flashbacks, the audience learns Derek’s whole story, from the murder of his
father which stoked the fire of his hatred to his eventual renunciation of his
views in prison. Now that Derek is out of prison and on the right path,
he attempts to save the mind and soul of his brother. The movie addresses
real issues in American race relations and the long road ahead to gain full
social integration and harmony.
Kazan,
Elia. Viva
Zapata!.
USA: 20 th Century Fox Film Corp, 1952.
This
film depicts the story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata who led a
rebellion against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz in the early 1900’s.
Khleifi,
Michel (Director). Fertile
Memory.
Palestine/Netherlands/Belgium, 1980
The film
combines documentary and narrative elements to examine the lives of Palestinian
women living in a conflicted culture. Romia works in an Israeli factory and
continually fights Israeli authorities for the rights to her family land. Sahar
works as a novelist, and finds a struggle in her life as a young, divorced
mother. Through the experiences of these women, the film finds the voice of
Palestinian women, caught in a predominantly masculine political conflict. (synopsis from: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808537728/details)
http://www.arabfilm.com/item_print.html?itemID=280
Klimov,
Elem (Director). Come and See. Russia: Kino International, 1992.
Set in occupied
Byelorussia in 1943, the film follows a teenager into the swamps and forests of
the border provinces, where he undergoes a hell of atrocities, becoming a middle-aged
wreck as he tries to survive repeated encounters with ruthless German soldiers.
(based on synopsis provided at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1036052-come_and_see/about.php)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1036052-come_and_see/about.php
Koller,
Xavier (Director). Journey
of Hope.
United States: HBO Video, 1990.
Based
on a true story, this movie depicts a Kurdish family leaving their homeland to
find work in Switzerland. After being cheated by an immigrant smuggler from
their own country, the family has to cross the Alps on foot. Academy Award:
Best Foreign Language Film. ***
Kozole,
Damjan. (Director). Spare Parts. Slovakia: E-Motion Film, 2003.
Embittered widower,
Ludvik, spends his nights transporting illegal refugees in his van from
Croatia, across Slovenia, and into Italy. The young and inexperienced Rudi acts
as his helpmate. Together they become a well-trained duo who almost every night
convey "spare parts" to Italy.
The whole idea of this account is that everyone - including ourselves -
is looking for happiness: the "spare parts" because of the misery
they are plunged into without, and our characters because they can't find it
inside. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0334237/)
http://www.kinoeye.org/03/10/martin10.php
Kramer,
Stanley (Director). Judgment
at Nuremberg.
1961. UA/Roxlom.
Director
Stanley Kramer's socially conscious 1961 film tackles the subject of the war
crime trials arising out of World War II in an earnest and straightforward
fashion, exploring the consciousness of two nations as they struggle to come to
terms with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Spencer Tracy plays the American
judge selected to head the tribunal that will try the suspected war criminals.
As he sets about his task, he must confront the raw emotion felt by the German
people, and his own notions of good and evil, right and wrong. Regarded as a
classic, this stark rendering of one of the most pivotal events in the 20th
century features a stellar cast including Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift,
Marlene Dietrich, a young William Shatner, and Maximillian Schell, who won an
Oscar for his role as counsel for the defense for those charged with crimes
against humanity. Judgment
at Nuremberg
is important viewing not only for the history of film, but for the history of
modern times. --
Robert Lane
Based on
film review published on Amazon.com.
Kreuzpaintner,
Marco (Director). Trade. Germany: Centropolis Entertainment,
2007.
Adriana is a
13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in
motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge to save her. Adriana's only friend and protector
throughout her ordeal is Veronica, a young Polish woman tricked into the trade
by the same criminal gang. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible
obstacles to track the girls' abductors, he meets Ray, a Texas cop whose own
family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy's quest.
Fighting with courage and hard-tested faith, the characters of Trade negotiate
their way through the unspeakable terrain of the sex trade "tunnels"
between Mexico and the United States. From the barrios of Mexico City and the
treacherous Rio Grande border, to a secret internet sex slave auction and the
final climactic confrontation at a stash house in suburban New Jersey, Ray and
Jorge forge a close bond as they give desperate chase to Adriana's kidnappers
before she is sold and disappears forever into this brutal global underworld, a
place from which few victims ever return.
(synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399095/plotsummary)
Lee,
Spike (Director). Malcolm
X.
1992. Warner Bros.
Biography of
Malcolm X, the famous African American leader. Born Malcolm Little, his father
(a minister) was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. He became a gangster, and while in
jail discovered the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. He preaches
the teachings when let out of jail, but later on goes on a pilgrimage to the
city of Mecca, there he converts to the original Islamic religion and becomes a
Sunni Muslim. He changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz and stops his
anti-white teachings, as he realises the error of his mistakes. He is later on
assasinated and dies a Muslim Martyr.
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006J28L4/qid=1138024323/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?v=glance&s=dvd
Leigh,
Mike (Director). Vera Drake. UK/France: Les Films Alain Sarde, 2004.
The film
takes place in England in the 1950’s, when abortion was illegal. The story surrounds a kindhearted
woman, Vera, devoted to her family who also secretly visits women and helps
them induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies. Vera sees herself as simply helping women in need, and
always does so with a smile and kind words of encouragement. When the
authorities finally find her out, Vera's world and family life rapidly
unravel. (based on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383694/plotsummary)
Lemmons,
Kasi (Director). Talk to Me. United States: Focus Features, 2007.
Don Cheadle
portrays radio host Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr. Together with program director’s help
(Chiwetel Ejiofor), Petey provides a voice of truth, reason, and leadership
during the turbulent civil rights period of the 1960’s in Washington D.C.
http://www.focusfeatures.com/talktome/
Loach,
Ken (Director). Carla’s
Song.
United Kingdom: Shadow Distribution, 1996.
Carla’s
Song is
the story of two lovers who return to the woman’s homeland of Nicaragua during
the 1987 struggle between the Sandanistas and the Contras in order to free the
woman from her past. Their love, however, is unable to transcend the
societal terror the two find in Nicaragua.[10] 8
Macdonald,
Kevin (Director). Last King of
Scotland. UK: DNA Films, 2006.
A
Scottish doctor (Forrest Whittaker) on a Ugandan medical mission becomes
irreversibly entangled with one of the worlds most barbaric figures: Idi Amin.
Impressed by Dr. Garrigan€s brazen attitude in a
moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin picks him as
his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first
flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amins
savagery--and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan
tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive. (synopsis from: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808762866/details)
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/lastkingofscotland/
Malkovich,
John. The
dancer upstairs. USA:
20th Century Fox, 2002.
A
detective in an unnamed Latin American country searches for a revolutionary
guerilla leader that opposes the fascist government.
Mandoki,
Luis. Voces
inocentes.
Mexico: 20 th Century Fox, 2004.
Voces
inocentes portrays
the struggles of a young boy in El Salvador during the Civil War of the 1980’s
who has to choose between enlisting in the army, or joining guerilla forces.
Marshall,
Rob (Director). Memoirs of a Geisha.
United States: Columbia Pictures, 2005.
In 1929 an
impoverished young child from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in
Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the
head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of
Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's
bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named
Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in
order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha she enters a society of
wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. As World War II looms Japan and the
geisha's world are forever changed by the onslaught of history. (based on information at: http://imdb.com/title/tt0397535/plotsummary)
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/memoirsofageisha/index.html
Marston,
Joshua. Maria,
Full of Grace.
USA: Fine Line Features, 2004.
Maria, a
young pregnant Colombian woman becomes a drug mule out of her desperation to
make money to help her family situation and give a better life to her future
child.
Based on information provided by Amazon.com.
Masharawi,
Rashid (Director). Curfew. Netherlands: Ayloul Film Productions,
1994.
An intense
account of the stressful, restrictive, routine which an extended family must
endure now that Israeli authorities have declared an open-ended curfew in their
Gaza community. (based on: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9C06E6DA1539F934A35751C1A962958260&oref=slogin)
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C06E6DA1539F934A35751C1A962958260
Makhmalbaf,
Samira (Director). Blackboards. Iran: Makhmalbaf Productions, 2000.
A film about
teachers crossing the mountains of the Iranian border in search of
students. A slyly subversive film
of young Iranians' frustration with post-revolutionary orthodoxy. The film depicts the harshness and
beauty of the Iran/Iraq border, and is testimony to the unexpected usefulness
in the wilderness of a blackboard.
(based on: http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=101243)
http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2002/blackboards.shtml
McBrearty,
Don (Director). Race
to Freedom: the Underground Railroad. United States: Xenon Home Video, 1994.
The
underground railroad is a rarely-touched film subject. This made-for-TV
movie, aired on Black Entertainment Television and the Family Channel, is the
story of a group of North Carolina slaves who escape from their plantation in
the 1850s, headed for Canada. The film is a potentially good educational
tool, as the runaways encounter such great figures as Harriet Tubman, Frederick
Douglass, and Levi Coffin.[11]
Mehta,
Deepa (Director). Earth. India/Canada: Cracking the Earth Films,
Inc., 1998.
The
movie opens in Lahore of 1947 before India and Pakistan became independent. It
is a cosmopolitan city, depicted by the coterie of working class friends who
are from different religions. The rest of the movie chronicles the fate of this
group and the maddening religious that sweeps even this city as the partition
of the two countries is decided and Lahore is given to Pakistan. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150433/plotsummary)
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19991015/REVIEWS/910150301/1023Roger
Mehta,
Deepa (Director). Water. Canada/India: Deepa Mehta Films, 2005.
A
beautiful, tragic, sad, emotionally available film about the deplorable
situation in India in regards to its many millions of widows: who are
segregated into Ashrams, forced to beg in the street, some into prostitution to
support the Ashram and are viewed as if not Untouchable...then unavailable for
remarriage. (symopsis from: http://www.amazon.com/Water-DVD-Special-Deepa-Mehta/dp/B000E112BG)
Meirelles,
Fernando; Lund, Katia.
City of God.
USA: Miramax Films, 2002
Ciudade
de Deus portrays
the often violent realities lived in the “favelas” (shantytowns) of Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
Meirelles,
Fernando (Director). The
Constant Gardner.
2005.
Based on the
best-selling John le Carré novel and from the Academy Award-nominated director
of "City of God." In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa
Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor,
appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion.
Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower,
their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes),
will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse
and jarred by rumors of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone
by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents.
Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life,
stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth - a conspiracy more
far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined.
Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.
Milani,
Tahmineh (Director). The Hidden
Half. Iran: Arta Film, 2001.
As a criminal judge travels to hear the
case of a woman accused of murder, his wife Fereshteh gives him a long letter
to read. Hoping the letter will give her husband a better understanding of the
situation of women in Iran, she discusses her past as a political militant in
the 1970's. (synopsis from: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808428350/info)
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117797328.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
Milani,
Tahmineh (Director). Two Women. Iran, 1999.
Details the lives
of two promising architecture students over the course of the first turbulent
years of the Islamic Republic. A scathing portrait of those traditions - aided
by official indifference - which conspire to trap women and stop them from
realizing their full potential; the inclusion of frank depictions of domestic
violence was hailed by many as a breakthrough in dealing with a long taboo
subject. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212573/plotsummary)
http://www.iranian.com/JasminDarznik/2000/August/Women/
Milestone,
Lewis (Director). All Quiet on
the Western Front. United States: Universal Pictures,
1930.
Based on the
book, the story takes place during World War I, following the lives of German
soldiers. In particular, the story
deals with the horrors of war, and how the soldiers first hand experiences with
life and death vastly alter the way they treat the opposing soldiers, each
other, and how they view the world.
(based on information provided at the website below.)
http://www.filmsite.org/allq.html
Mokneche,
Nadir (Director). Viva
Laldjerie. France: BL Prod., 2004.
A richly
drawn portrait of women exiled in their own country; Algiers in 2003. Three
women: a mother, her daughter and a prostitute have been living in a hotel in
the centre of town amid creeping fundamentalism. (based on synopsis at: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1141455-viva_laldjerie/about.php)
http://www.humanities.uci.edu/fvc/archive/2005Fall/schedF05_vivalaldjerie.html
Moodysson,
Lukas (Director). Lilja
4-Ever. Sweden: MemFis Film, 2002.
The story is
based on the life of Dangoule Rasalaite and examines the issue of trafficking
in human beings and sexual slavery. (based on information
provided at the website below.)
http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-lilya18apr18,0,1186594.story
Moshe,
Guy (Director). Holly. United States: Priority Films, 2006.
The story
revolves around an American stolen artifacts dealer who tries to save a
Vietnamese girl from being sold to human traffickers. (based on information
provided at the website below.)
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931364.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
Mulligan,
Robert. (Director). To Kill a Mockingbird. United States: Universal Pictures,
1962.
A
renowned classic featuring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, an idealistic trial
lawyer. Set in the post-depression
era of the 1930’s, Finch is chosen to represent an African American farmer
accused of raping the farmer’s daughter.
Racial tensions erupt in the small town as the case goes to trial.
Mungiu,
Cristian (Director). 4 Months,
3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Romania: Mobra Films, 2007.
A
highly acclaimed drama, that takes in Romania in the 1980’s. At that period in Romania, all forms of
contraception, including abortion were illegal. The story surrounds a woman who helps her friend arrange an
illegal abortion. (based on information provided at the
website below.)
http://www.4months3weeksand2days.com/blog/index.php
Nava,
Gregory (Director). El
Norte.
Farmington Hills, Mich.: CBS/Fox Video, 1984.
Two
young Mayan Indians, a brother and sister, travel from their remote Guatemalan
village, after the military regime destroys their village and family. They
arrive first in Mexico, then at the "promised land" of the north--Los
Angeles.**
Niccol,
Andrew (Director). Lord of War. United States: Lions Gate Films, 2005.
Nicholas
Cage plays an arms dealer without a conscious - who sells weapons to nearly
every dictator around the globe,
relentlessly pursued by an Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke).
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808681793/info
Noyce,
Phillip (Director). Catch a
Fire. France/UK/USA: Mirage Enterprises,
2005.
Based on the real life
story of Patrick Chamusso, an ordinary black South African who, after being
wrongly accused of crimes against the racist government in the early 1980’s,
became a foot soldier in the war against apartheid. (based on: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/331683/Catch-a-Fire/overview)
http://www.catchafiremovie.com/
Noyce,
Robert (Director). Rabbit Proof
Fence. Australia: Australia Film Commission,
1995.
Set
in Australia in 1931, the films revolves around a government policy that
requires “half-caste” children (their mothers were Aboriginies and their
fathers caucasisan) to be forcibly removed from their homes by the State and
trained to work as servants.
(based on information from: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rabbitproof_fence/about.php)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/10/16/rabbit_proof_fence_2002_review.shtml
Oumar Sissko, Cheick
(Director). Finzan (A Dance for Heroes). Mali: Kora Films, 1990.
A
story dealing with both FGM (female genital mutilation) and a woman’s
resistance to the local tradition of having to marry her dead husband’s
brother. (based on information
provided at the website below.)
http://www.library.american.edu/subject/media/aufderheide/finzan.html
Palcy,
Euzhan (Director). *A Dry White Season. United States:
MGM Studios, 1989.
In
A
Dry White Season,
a white school teacher (Donald Sutherland) in South Africa slowly comes to
realize the cruel and unfair qualities of the sanctioned racism in his society.
Panahi,
Jafar (Director). Crimson Gold. Iran: Jafar Panahi
Productions, 2003.
The film sets out to
examine what drove Hussein a pizza deliveryman and a veteran of the Iran-Iraq
war, to rob a Tehran jewelry store. The answer is not altogether surprising,
and at times "Crimson Gold" exhibits a finger-pointing didacticism as
it exposes the cruelties and inequities of a society sharply polarized by class
and corrupted by selfishness, snobbery and cynicism. (based on: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/286689/Crimson-Gold/overview)
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A04EFD8133FF930A25753C1A9659C8B63
Panahi,
Jafar (Director). Dayereh (aka Come and See). Iran, Jafar Panahi Productions, 2000.
An
awarding-winning independent film that details the oppressive and sexist
treatment of women in contemporary Iran. (based on information provided at the
website below.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(film)
Parker,
Alan (Director) Mississippi
Burning.
1988. US.
Mississippi
Burning is griping and powerful civil rights era drama that is based on real
life events. Three civil rights workers (two white, one black) are missing and
feared dead. They were last sceen in a small Mississippi town. The FBI sends
down a team of agents led by Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman. Mr. Dafoe is a
young, idealistic agent while Mr. Hackman is one time small town Mississippi
sheriff with alot views on how the case should be handled. The two bang heads,
before they eventually come to a common ground. The town is segregated and the
Ku Klux Klan runs rampant. The film's graphic depiction of racism and hatred is
disturbing. It is difficult to image that something this grotesque and reviling
could happen in this country, but it unfortunately did. Francis McDormand is
the wife of Brad Dourif who is town's deputy sheriff. Despite the fact her
husband is knee deep in the missing kids situation and is a hateful and violent
man, she rises above it and shows compassion to her fellow man. There is alot
of sexual tension between her and Mr. Hackman and it adds a calming touch to
the turbulent surroundings. Mississippi Burning is a film that is movie making
at it's best. It comments on society, makes you think, educates you and in the
end entertains.
Film review
by Thomas Magnum, published online at Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000059TFO/qid=1138024356/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7669510-0088653?v=glance&s=dvd
Payami,
Babak (Director). Secret Ballot. Iran: Fabrika, 2001.
A
lighthearted comedy about the blossoming of democracy in Iran that is both and
naïve. The movie can be
interpreted both as a piece of propaganda on behalf of the Iranian theocracy
and the token democratic reforms that the mullahs have permitted, or if it is a
work of stunningly sunny optimism that honestly believes genuine democracy is
on its way to that beleaguered country. (synopsis based on: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/255217/Secret-Ballot/overview)
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?id=1980
Pierson,
Frank (Director). Citizen
Cohn.
1992.
Citizen
Cohn is
a biography of Roy Cohn, “McCarthy's loyal partner, the Kennedys' worst enemy,
the F.B.I.'s best friend, and the country's greatest nightmare.” A real public
nuisance, Roy Cohn was the chief counsel to Joseph McCarthy during the
"Red Scare" of the late fifties. This hotshot lawyer helped send the
Rosenbergs to the electric chair. The narrative technique in this film used to
tell his story is through flashback. The story is told of Cohn's rise to power,
his ruthless treatment of 'communists', and his slow but eventual downfall,
James Woods gives a riveting performance of Roy Cohn.
Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.
Polanski,
Roman. Death
and the Maiden.
United States: Fine Line, 1994.
In Death and the
Maiden,
a Latin American torture survivor now living a normal life has a chance
encounter with the man who tortured her. He does not realize who she is,
and she begins to inflict the same psychological pain on him that he had
inflicted on her. [12]
Polanski,
Roman (Director). The
Pianist.
2003.
A brilliant
pianist, a Polish Jew, witnesses the restrictions Nazis place on Jews in the
Polish capital, from restricted access to the building of the Warsaw ghetto. As
his family is rounded up to be shipped off to the Nazi labor camps, he escapes
deportation and eludes capture by living in the ruins of Warsaw.
Based on
film information provided by Amazon.com.
Pollack,
Sydney (Director). The
Interpreter. United States: Universal Pictures,
2005.
Nicole
Kidman stars as a U.N. interpreter who overhears a death threat during a
General Assembly meeting.
Supposedly, an African dictator is supposed to be assassinated. Sean Penn, playing a Secret Service
agent, is assigned to protect Kidman and investigate the possible
assassination.
http://www.theinterpretermovie.com/
Pontecorvo,
Gillo (Director). Battle of
Algiers. France/Italy/Algeria: Casbah Film,
1966.
A film
commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from
both sides. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has
something to prove. The Algerians are seeking independence. The two clash. The
torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in
soda shops. A devastating look at an extremely costly war. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058946/plotsummary)
http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/reviews/n_9697/
Puenzo,
Luis (Director). *La
Historia Oficial (The
Official Story). Argentina: Fox Lorber, 1985.
La Historia
Oficial
is a film about a family in Argentina torn apart because of the oppression and
human rights abuses of the military dictatorship during the nineteen seventies. [13]
Radford,
Michael (Director). 1984. United Kingdom: Virgin Films, 1984.
1984 is the film adaptation
of George Orwell’s classic nightmarish tale. The film follows the
struggles of one man to escape the reaches of a "Big Brother"
government that allows no individuality or emotion.
Rahmanian,
Haman, (Director). Day Break. Iran: Prometheus Films, 2005.
Since
the Islamic Revolution in Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to
Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's
life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside
Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of
Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly
fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again
and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes
on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
(synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477607/)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dame_sobh
Ratnam,
Mani, (Director). A Peck on the
Cheek. India: Madras Talkies, 2002.
Amudha
is an eight-year-old girl who learns from her adopted family that her real
mother and father were separated by a war. In an attempt to meet her birth
mother, she travels with her cousin and her new family to the place her parents
came from, and sees for herself the conditions that led to her being separated
from her parents. (review from: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/278238/Kannathil-Muthamittal/overview)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannathil_Muthamittal
Roodt,
Darrell James (Director). Cry, the Beloved Country. United States:
Miramax Films, 1995.
In
this film, a black minister (James Earl Jones) crosses paths with a racist
white landowner (Donald Sutherland) while searching for his son in Johannesburg.
The film traces the roots of South African racial enmity and its
consequences. The film is based on the Alan Paton book written in 1948. [14]
Roodt,
Darrell James (Director). Sarafina! South Africa: Buena
Vista, 1992.
Sarafina! is a musical set in
revolutionary 1976 South Africa. The story goes through the experiences
of a young black teenager as she and her classmates become politically
involved. After their teacher is arrested and their school assaulted, the
students resist and protest boldly. [15]
Rondon,
Mariana (Director). Postcards
from Leningrad. Venezuela: Sudaka Films, 2007.
A
drama about children growing up amongst guerilla groups in Venezuela in the
1960’s. (based on information provided at the website below.)
http://www.postalesdeleningrado.com/
Rothemund,
Marc (Director). Sophie Scholl:
the Final Days. Germany: Broth Film, 2005.
The
true story of Germany's famous anti-Nazi heroine. Sophie Scholl was an activist
behind the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. The films
re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life: a heart-stopping journey
from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence in 1943 Munich. Unwavering in
her convictions and loyalty to her comrades, her cross-examination by the
Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a
passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting
and timeless. (based on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426578/plotsummary)
http://www.sophieschollmovie.com/
Rosi,
Francesco (Director). Salvatore
Giuliano.
Italy. 1962.
Who murdered
Salvatore Giuliano? July 5, 1950-the infamous bandit's bullet-riddled corpse is
found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, Sicily, a handgun and rifle by
his side. At the age of twenty-seven, Giuliano (Frank Wolff) was then both
Italy's most wanted criminal and most celebrated hero of his day. In this
groundbreaking work of investigative filmmaking, director Francesco Rosi harnesses
the facts and myths surrounding the true story of Giuliano's death, creating a
searching and startling exposé of Sicily and the web of relations between her
citizens, the Mafia, the military, and government officials.
Based on
film information provided by Amazon.com.
Rosi,
Francesco (Director). The
Truce.
Italy. 1998.
This is the
true story of Italian Jews returning home from Auschwitz after the war. It
deals with their experiences in readjusting to life and their fears about what
they will find at home.
Based on
film information provided by Amazon.com.
Ruffio,
Jacques (Director). La Passante. France: Cinema 5, 1982.
This
French-German production features Romy Schneider in a dual role as a German
living in Occupied Paris and as the present-day wife of a human rights
activist. The activist, Max Baumstein, kills the Paraguayan ambassador when he
learns that the politician is not only a former Nazi but the general who
ordered the death of his parents. In a flashback, young Max is taken to Paris
by Elsa (Schneider), whose husband Michel is sent to a concentration camp. As a
result, Elsa is forced to support herself as a singer in Pigalle, eventually
giving up her body to a Nazi general who promises to arrange for Michel's
release. The familiar story of former SS men altering their identities and
rising in the South American political ranks is intelligently handled in La
Passante. [16]
Saleh,
Tewfik (Director). The Dupes. Syria: National Film Organization,
1972.
Set in Iraq (but shot in Syria), this is
the story of three men who try to leave their impoverished and hopeless lives
to get get work in Kuwait. They hire a water-truck driver to transport them
illegally across the border in the tank of his truck (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068899/plotsummary)
http://arteeast.org/cinemaeast/syrian-06/syrian06-films/thedupes.html
Salles,
Walter. Motorcycle
Diaries.
USA: Focus Features, 2004.
Diarios
de motocicleta
portrays the motorcycle trip through South America taken by Ernesto “Che”
Guevara in his youth during which he learns of the realities of his continent.
Sanger,
Jonathan (Director). Down Came a Blackbird. United States:
Viacom Pictures, 1995.
In
this film, a United States journalist (Laura Dern) and her lover go to an
anonymous South-American country to interview a rebel leader. The two are
arrested, however, during a protest, separated, and tortured. The
journalist returns to the United States after being released and tries to begin
the healing process. Her past still haunts her, and she finds herself at
a center for survivors of torture to do an article about its founder, a
Holocaust survivor. The article is difficult for her to write, however,
and more pain and conflict erupt as a mysterious South American professor
arrives at the center. [17]
Sayles,
John (Director). Matewan. United States: Cinecom Pictures, 1987.
Based on
actual events in Mingo County, West Virginia. The dramatization of a famous
shootout in the struggle to unionize the coal fields of West Virginia. The
mayor Matewan, two union members, and seven armed coal company strong-arm men
were all killed. The movie details the struggle of companies to control labor
unions, racial cooperation during a period of racial turmoil, and examination
of how far people must be pushed to use violence. It also shows the central role of evangelical religion in
the lives of the miners, the isolation of the West Virginia coal towns, the
difficulties of organizing a union, and the brutality of the coal
companies. (Based on synopsis
from: http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/matewan.html)
More
information available at: http://matewanwv.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=47
Satrapi,
Marjane (Director); and Paronnaud, Vincent (Director). Persepolis. France: 2.4.7 Films, 2007.
Set during
the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970’s, it tells the coming-of-age story of
a young Iranian girl. The girl is
forced to deal with both a regime change and war, and struggles to deal with
the changing social mores. (based on information provided at the website
below.)
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/persepolis/
Schnabel,
Julian. Before
night falls.
USA: Fine Line Features, 2000.
This film is
based on the memoir by Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990)
– who is persecuted due to his homosexuality by the Castro regime and
whose final resort in attempting to avoid further persecution is to flee his
native country.
Schumacher,
Joel (Director). A
Time to Kill.
1996. US
A young
lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his
10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
Cf. John
Grisham’s novel A
Time to Kill.
Scorsese,
Martin (Director). Kundun. United States. 1997.
The Tibetans
refer to the Dalai Lama as 'Kundun', which means 'The Presence'. He was forced
to escape from his native home, Tibet, when communist China invaded and
enforced an oppressive regime upon the peaceful nation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama
escaped to India in 1959 and has been living in exile in Dharamsala ever since.
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.)
Sembene,
Ousmane (Director). Moolaade. Senegal, 2004.
Moolaade
is a story about one woman's resistance to the traditional practice of female
genital mutilation. Sembene offers a novelistically rich portrait of a modern
African village torn between three religions: spirit worship, Islam, and
free-market globalization. This movie has everything-- scheming imams and
heroic feminists, benevolent mercenaries and Paris-educated tribal chiefs,
bloody murder and explosions of song and dance. Too wise to mistake the earnest
for the serious, Sembene's powerful assault on a cruel religious ritual leaves
you feeling surprisingly elated.
Shepard,
Richard (Director). Hunting
Party. United States: Weinstein Company, 2007.
A
journalist (Richard Gere) and his crew search out a wanted war criminal deep in
Bosnia. The search become
dangerous when the crew is mistaken as a CIA hit squad. (based on information
provided at the website below.)
http://www.thehuntingpartymovie.com/
Sheridan,
Jim (Director). In
the Name of the Father. United States: Universal Studios, 1994.
In
the Name of the Father is based on a true story about a young Irish man (Daniel
Day-Lewis) who is wrongfully arrested, along with his family, and jailed by the
British government on concocted charges of involvement in IRA bombings.
Although the man was apolitical prior to his arrest, the strength his father
displays in the face of British torture forces him to speak out to clear his
family. Emma Thompson portrays the attorney that helps Day-Lewis’s
character in his fight for justice. [18]
Simoneau,
Yves (Director). Nuremberg. United
States: Warner Home Video, 2000.
Nuremberg
is a
fictionalized account of the Nuremberg Trials in which the Allies prosecuted
Nazi war criminals. The film focuses on Robert Jackson (Alec Baldwin),
the chief prosecutor for the Allies, and the trials of men such as Hermann
Goering (Brian Cox). The film also shows the gravity of the crimes
committed during WWII and the controversy surrounding the creation of an
international tribunal to try war criminals. [19]
Sivan,
Santosh (Director). The
Terrorist. India: Moderne Gallerie Motion Picture,
1998.
A
remarkable Indian portrait of a Malli, a 19-year-old girl whose loved ones have
died in an unnamed conflict, who now prepares for a measure of revenge as a
suicide bomber. From the harsh
opening, in which Malli executes a traitor, the film follows her river
journey--evoking thoughts of Apocalypse Now--and preparations to
turn herself into a human bomb. Then Malli learns something that makes her
question her assumptions, and as she rediscovers her humanity the drama builds
to one of the most nerve-wracking conclusions in recent cinema. (based on: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Terrorist-Ayesha-Dharker/dp/B00005QG2A)
http://www.terrorist-thefilm.com/
Soderbergh,
Steven (Director). Traffic. United States, USA Films, 2000.
A
film that explores the both drug use and the drug trade enterprise from a
variety of perspectives. The
United States drug czar (Michael Douglas), whose daughter becomes addicted to
crack cocaine. A housewife,
(Catherine Zeta-Jones) whose husband is put on trial for his involvement with a
drug cartel. An undercover agent,
(Don Cheadle) who works behind the scenes to shut down dealers one at a
time. And a Mexican police officer
(Benecio Del Toro) who attempts to fight corruption within his own force to
stop the drug trade.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_(2000_film)
Spielberg,
Steven (Director). Shindler’s
List.
United States: Universal Studios, 1993.
Shindler’s
List
tells the story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who saves the lives of more
than a 1,000 Jews by employing them in his factory. Through his struggles
against the horrors around him, Schindler is transformed from a self-centered
alcoholic and womanizer to a hero. The movie, which is based on the book
by Thomas Keneally, was filmed in Poland with great attention to authenticity. [20]
Spielberg,
Stephen (Director). Amistad. United States: Dreamworks, 1997
The
story of Africans, captured as slaves, who mutinied aboard the ship, La
Amistad. The ship eventually
reaches America, and the Africans are imprisoned as runaway slaves. The Africans are then represented by
John Quincy Adams who fights for their rights in the United States Supreme
Court.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_(1997_film)
Spielberg,
Stephen (Director). Saving
Private Ryan. United States: Dreamworks, 1998.
A
squad of GI’s (led by Tom Hanks), after successfully landing on the beaches of
Normandy on D-Day, undertake a dangerous mission to recover a paratrooper (Matt
Damon) lost somewhere deep in German territory. The opening twenty-five minutes of the film are an
unprecedented recreation of D-Day.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saving_private_ryan/
Spielberg,
Stephen (Director). Munich.
United States: Dreamworks, 2005.
An
secret Israeli squad (led by Eric Bana), commissioned by Prime Minister Golda
Meier, tracks down the Palestinian terrorists of Black September allegedly
responsible for the attack on Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972.
http://www.munichmovie.com/main.html
Spottiswoode,
Roger. Under
Fire.
United States: MGM, 1983.
Under
Fire
tells the story of photographer Russell Price (Nick Nolte) who goes to
Nicaragua with a radio journalist. The two travel with the guerillas
fighting against the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Somoza and end up helping the
guerrillas fool the world into believing their leader is still alive. [21]
Steven
Jr., George (Director) Separate
But Equal.
1991. US
This film
follows the true story of the NAACP court court challenge of racial school
segregation in the Brown vs. Board of Education. This was the struggle would
destroy the legal validity for racial segregation in general and prove to be
the start and the first major victory of the civil rights movement.
Based on
information provided by Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008RV0D/qid=1138024392/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/103-7669510-0088653?n=130
Stone,
Oliver. Comandante. USA: HBO Documentary,
2003
This
documentary records the director’s (Oliver Stone) meeting with Fidel Castro.
Stone,
Oliver (Director). Heaven and
Earth. United States: Warner Bros., 1993.
Fleeing
the violence of the Viet Cong, Le Ly leaves her farming village with her mother
for Saigon. After disgracing herself by becoming pregnant with her new master's
child, she moves in with her sister and, through hustling the American troops,
meets up with Steve Butler. They become lovers and, encouraged by his promises,
she agrees to return with him to the strange but wonderful land of
"America". (synopsis
from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107096/)
Stone,
Oliver. Looking
for Fidel.
USA: Warner Home Video, 2004
This
documentary records the director’s (Oliver Stone) interview of Fidel Castro
regarding his recent crackdown on Cuban dissidents – also interviewed are
men awaiting execution for attempting to hijack a ferry with the intentions of
escaping Cuba.
Stone,
Oliver (Director). Platoon. United States: Orion Pictures, 1986.
A gritty and
emotional look at the lives of a platoon of American soldiers as they patrol,
fight and die in the jungles of Vietnam as seen through the perspective of a
young recruit. Two veteran sergeants clash when one of them precipitates a
massacre of villagers. (synopsis
provided by: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091763/plotsummary)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platoon_(film)
Stone,
Oliver. Salvador. United
States: MGM, 1986.
Salvador, which is based on
actual events, is the story of Richard Boyle (James Woods), a freelance
photographer who travels to El Salvador in search of freelance work. Upon
his arrival in the country, Boyle witnesses the execution of a student by
government troops and realizes the true volatility of the country’s
situation. Boyle then falls in love with Maria and, although he knows he
should leave, he refuses to go without the woman he loves. [22]
Suleiman,
Elia (Director). Chronicle of a
Disappearance. Palestine/Israel/USA, 1996.
Deceptively
simple and executed with a documentary feel, this film is divided into two
sections. The first documents the paradoxical but sleepy existence in the Arab
part of Nazareth. The second part takes a more political view of the city and
in it, Suleiman takes a more active role. He has come to his former home in
search of inspiration, but what he sees are many disturbing images of Arab
people trapped in a cultural identity crisis, a point best illustrated by the
plight of a young Arab woman who wants more independence than traditionally
allowed in her part of town but cannot find it because of prejudiced residents
on the Jewish side. (synopsis
from: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/136796/Chronicle-of-a-Disappearance/overview)
http://www.sfjff.org/public_html/sfjff17/programs/p0722c.html
Tanovic,
Danis (Director). No Man’s Land. Bosnia: Noe Productions, 2000.
A
film about two soldiers, one Bosnian, and one Serbian, trapped in no man’s land
between their lines. The movie
deals with their struggle to solve their predicament, which becomes
increasingly tenuous once the press and UN become involved in the
situation.
Based
on synopsis at http://www.unitedartists.com/nomansland/index2.html
Tian,
Zhuangzhuang (Director). Horse
Thief.
China. 1986.
"It's
the story of Norbu, ostracized by his community for stealing horses, and so
forced into further crime in order to survive. There's hardly any dialogue, but
what makes it so absorbing is the stream of stunning widescreen images, from
old Tibetan favorites like yaks and those long, booming pipes, to scenes of
mesmerizing, arcane rituals--valley coated in swirling scrapes of paper, sheep
being buried alive, row upon row of flicking candles. And their dreamlike
effect is enhanced by an ethereal sound track of tickling bells, gongs,
synthesizers and unearthly voices."
(Film Review
by John Wrathall, The Good Times, London. )
http://www.tibet.com/films.html
Tian,
Zhuangzhuang (Director). The
Blue Kite.
China. 1994.
Originally
Banned in China, where the director was under close government scrutiny for
making the film "without permission" "The Blue Kite" is the
most acclaimed and controversial of all of the films to come out of the new
Chinese cinema. Told from the perspective of a young boy, Tietou, it traces the
fate of a Beijing family and their neighbors as they experience the political
and social upheavals in 1950's and 60's China. Tietous' parents, a librarian
and school teacher, both loyal communist party members, soon learn that even
the most innocent criticisms can be interpreted by the Party as imperialist
propaganda. Over the next fifteen years, Tietous observes the adverse effects
of party policy on various members of his family. The only image of hope and
freedom offered in the film is a blue kite given to Tietou by his father, which
he later passes on to the next generation
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com. )
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007JZVS/qid=1138023991/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/103-7669510-0088653?n=130
Tort,
Gerardo. De
la calle.
Mexico: 20th Century Fox Film de Mexico, 2001.
This
film portrays the life and struggles of a group of street kids in Mexico City.
Ustaoglu,
Yesim (Director). Journey to
the Sun. Turkey: IFR, 1999.
Mehmet, a
young Turkish man newly migrated from the village Tire, takes a job searching
for water leaks below the surface of the streets of Istanbul. Due to a strange
set of events, he is mistaken for a Kurd, imprisoned, and brutally beaten. Upon
his release a week later, he becomes an outcast marked as a Kurd, losing his
apartment, his job, and eventually his girl friend, Arzu. When a Kurdish
friend, Berzan is killed in a street protest triggered by a hunger strike,
Mehmet takes a trek to return the body to Berzan's home village near the Iraqi
border, and learns why so many Kurds are refugees. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188653/plotsummary)
http://www.middleeastuk.com/culture/film/journey.htm
Verhoeven,
Michael (Director). The White
Rose. West Germany: Central Cinema Company
Film, 1983.
An
award-winning wartime drama based on the true story of a small band of
students, including Sophie Stoll, who dared to defy Hitler by printing anti-
Nazi leaflets under the Fuhrer's very nose. (based on: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_rose/about.php)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose
Vilsmaier,
Joseph (Director). Stalingrad. German/Russian: B.A. Produktion, 1993.
The film centers around the city of
Stalingrad, the site of arguably, in terms of human lives, one of the bloodiest
battles of all times. Over 1.5
million soldiers died during the battle, which lasted nearly a year. The film follows the progress of a
German Platoon through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After
having half their number wiped out and after being placed under the command of
a sadistic Captain, the Lieutenant of the platoon leads his men to desert. The
men of the platoon attempt to escape from the city, which is now surrounded by
the Soviet Army. (based on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108211/)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_(film)
von
Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel (Director).
The Lives of Others.
Germany: Bayerischer Rundfunk, 2006.
Captain
Wiesler is a wiretapping expert with the Stasi (East German Secret Police) in
the mid-eighties, who becomes disillusioned with his career and life in
general. That changes when his
latest assignment, a playwright with views against the totalitarian state,
starts to challenge Wiesler’s beliefs through overheard conversations. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/synopsis)
http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/
Wajda,
Andrezej (Director). Danton. France: Triumph Releasing, 1982.
Georges
Danton, a deep believer in liberty and human rights, was one of the main instigators
of the French Revolution. In Danton, he returns to Paris out of
retirement to stop Robespierre’s Reign of Terror, a situation which has become
almost as unbearable as that under the overthrown king. Robespierre,
though an idealist and believer in liberty, has become tyrannical in trying to
control his own government and people. The movie is a view of the thin
line that government must walk between order and oppression. [23]
Welles,
Orson (Director). The
Trial.
Germany/Italy/France: Astor, 1963.
Welles’s
The
Trial is
an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel, which examines the nature of random
arrest and basic civil rights. It centers around Joseph K, a man arrested
and held for no apparent reason. The movie does not include the purely
psychological elements of the novel, but Welles creates the same kind of
oppressive atmosphere. [24]
Winterbottom,
Michael (Director). Welcome to
Sarajevo. UK: Channel Four Films, 1997.
Journalists
Flynn (Woody Harrelson) from the US, and Michael Hendorson from the UK and
their teams meet the beginning of Bosnian war in Sarajevo. During their reports
they find an orphanage run by devoted Mrs. Savic near the front line. Henderson
gets so involved in kids' problems that with the help of an aid worker (Marisa
Tomei) he decides to take one the children illegally back to England. (synopsis from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120490/plotsummary)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/welcome_to_sarajevo/
Whitecross,
Mat (Director); Winterbottom, Michael (Director). Road to Guantanamo.
United Kingdom: Film 4, 2007.
A
highly controversial film, based on true events, that casts a critical eye on
the treatment of enemy combatants.
The films tells the story of three British citizens, captured by the
Northern Alliance and eventually held prisoner at Camp Delta in Guantanomo Bay.
(based on information provided at the website below.)
http://www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com/
Winterbottom,
Michael (Director). A Mighty
Heart. United States: Paramount Vantage, 2007.
Angelina
Jolie portrays Marianne Pearl, the real life wife of Daniel Pearl, a journalist
who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan while researching a story on terrorist
Richard Reid. The film follows
Marianne’s investigation into what happened to her husband and why. (based on
information provided at the website below.)
http://www.amightyheartmovie.com/
Winkler,
Irvin (Director), Guilty
by Suspicion,
1991
Guilty
by Suspicion
is a fictional dramatization of the Hollywood Blacklist period. It captures the
essence of Hollywood during the 1950s when McCarthy and the House Un-American
Committee were at the peak of power. Set during 1951, when the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) held hearings to target alleged
Communist affiliations within the Hollywood filmmaking community, the film
stars Robert De Niro as a prominent director who is urged to "name
names" to appease the committee. Rather than betray one of his closest
friends, he refuses to "cooperate" with the committee and is quickly
blacklisted, his entire career in jeopardy. Guilty by Suspicion illuminates the
unconstitutional evil of the blacklist era while offering a glimpse behind the
scenes of Hollywood's past.
Wizan,
Joe (Director). …And
Justice For All.
1979. Columbia/Malton.
When a
corrupt judge is charged with rape, Arthur Kirkland must defend him. Kirkland
has had problems with the judge in the past, including one incident when the
judge wrongly sentenced his client Jeff McCullaugh because of a technicality.
Kirkland faces a moral and legal dilemma, especially difficult because the
judge admits he is guilty.
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com. )
Yuan,
Zhang (Director). East Palace,
West Palace. China: Amazon Entertainment Ltd., 1997.
In China, homosexuality isn't illegal, but
homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for
"hooliganism". The film focuses on a young gay writer who manages to
have himself interrogated for a whole night. During the interrogation he manages to tell his life story
which reflects both his treatment as a homosexual in China and the general
repression of Chinese society.
(based on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119007/plotsummary)
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=990CE6D61539F937A15754C0A96E958260&oref=slogin
Zhang,
Yimou (Director). The
Story of Qiuju.
China. 1992.
A pregnant
peasant woman seeks redress from the Chinese bureaucracy after the village
chief kicks her husband in the groin in this comedy of justice. As she is frustrated
by each level of the hierarchy and travels farther and farther away from the
countryside the viewer is also provided with a look at the changing Chinese
society through the verite camera used in most scenes.
(Based on
information provided by Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002JC5OS/qid=1138023735/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/103-7669510-0088653?n=130
Zhang,
Yimou (Director). To
Live.
China. 1992.
One of the
best films of 1994, To
Live is
a bold, energetic masterpiece from Zhang Yimou, the foremost director from
China's influential "fifth generation" of filmmakers. Continuing his
brilliant collaboration with China's best-known actress Gong Li (their previous
films include Ju Dou
and Raise the Red
Lantern), Zhang weaves an ambitious tapestry of personal and
political events, following the struggles of an impoverished husband and wife
(Ge You, Gong Li) from their heyday in the 1940s to the hardships that
accompanied the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. They raise two children
amidst a Communist regime, surviving numerous setbacks and yet managing,
somehow, to live. Both intimate and epic, Zhang's film encompasses the simplest
and most profound realities of Chinese life during this controversial period,
and for their honesty, Zhang and Gong Li faced a two-year ban on future
collaborations. To
Live is
a testament to their art, transcending politics to celebrate the tenacity of
ordinary people in the wake of turbulent history. --Jeff Shannon
(Based on
film review published on Amazon.com.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JM6H/qid=1138023762/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/103-7669510-0088653?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130
Zhang,
Yuan (Director). Beijing
Bastard.
China. 1990.
Chinese
Six Generation filmmaker Zhang Yuan’s first masterpiece, story of Beijing
underground youth’s life after 1989 Tiananmen.
Zinnemann,
Fred (Director). A Man for All
Seasons. UK: Highland Films, 1966.
The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry
VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and
remarriage.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060665/
Zwick,
Edward (Director). Blood Diamond.
United States: Warner Bros., 2006
A smuggler
(Leonardo DiCaprio) and a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) join forces during the
civil war in 1999 in Sierra Leone.
The smuggler wants to recover a rare diamond, while the fisherman seeks
to rescue his son who has been forced to fight as a child soldier. (based on
information provided at the website below.)
http://blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com/
Zwick,
Edward (Director). Glory. United States: Columbia Tristar, 1989.
The story of
the first African American company serving under Colonel Robert G. Shaw
(Matthew Broderick) during the civil war.
Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman star as soldiers serving under
Shaw. Together, the company fights
racial discrimination from both Confederate soldiers, and within their own
company.
http://www.destgulch.com/movies/glory/
Zwick,
Edward (Director). The Last
Samurai. United States: Warner Bros., 2003.
The story of
Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), an American military officer is hired by the
Emperor of Japan to train the country's army in the art of modern warfare. As the Emperor eradicates the ancient
Samurai warriors Algren learns about the Samurai and aligns himself with the
Samurai’s plight, placing him in the middle of an epic struggle. (based on
information provided at the website below.)
http://lastsamurai.warnerbros.com/html_index.php
Zwick,
Edward (Director). The Siege. United States: 20th Century
Fox, 1998.
After the
U.S. military abducts an Islamic religious leader, New York City becomes the
target of escalating terrorist attacks.
The head of the FBI's Counter-Intelligence Task Force (Denzel
Washington), teams up with a CIA operative Elise Kraft (Annette Benning) to
hunt down the terrorist cells responsible for the attacks. As the bombings
continue, the US government declares martial law, sending US troops, led by
Gen. Devereaux (Bruce Willis), into the streets of New York City. (based on
information provided at the website below.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133952/
____________________________________
*
Indicates Academy Award nomination or win
** Based on the
synopsis provided at BuyIndies.com, http://www.buyindies.com/listings/7/2/FCTS-720.html
***
Based on the summary at the Internet Movie Database, http://us.imdb.com.
[1]
Based on the synopsis by Hal Erickson on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[2] Based on the reviews
from "Cinemania 96." Microsoft, 1996 [CD-ROM]
[3] Based on the review by
Amazon: www.amazon.com
[4] Based on the reviews
from "Cinemania 96." Microsoft, 1996 [CD-ROM]
[5] Based on the reviews
from "Cinemania 96." Microsoft, 1996 [CD-ROM]
[6] Based on the synopsis
by Hal Erickson on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[7] Based on the synopsis
by Hal Erickson on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[8] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[9] Based on the synopsis
provided on Yahoo! Movies: www.movies.yahoo.com
[10] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[11] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[12] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[13] Based on the synopsis
by Eleanor Mannika on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[14] Based on the reviews
from "Cinemania 96." Microsoft, 1996 [CD-ROM]
[15] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[16] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[17] Based on the synopsis
by Sandra Brennan on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[18] Based in part on the
review by Amazon: www.amazon.com
[19] Based on the review by
Amazon: www.amazon.com
[20] Based on the review by
Amazon: www.amazon.com
[21] Based on a synopsis by
Eleanor Mannikka on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[22] Based on a synopsis by
Mark Deming on the All-Movie Guide: www.allmovie.com
[23] Based on the review
from www.tvguide.nis.newscorp.com
[24] Based on the reviews
from "Cinemania 96." Microsoft, 1996 [CD-ROM]